Spurs net fifth NBA title

Sentinel and Enterprise staff photos can be ordered by visiting our SmugMug site.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- From their low moment in the NBA Finals, back to the top of the league.

The San Antonio Spurs turned the rematch with the Miami Heat into no match at all.

The Spurs finished off a dominant run to their fifth NBA championship Sunday night, ending the Heat's two-year title reign with a 104-87 victory that wrapped up the series in five games.

A year after their heartbreaking seven-game defeat, their only loss in six finals appearances, the Spurs won four routs to deny Miami's quest for a third straight championship.

Kawhi Leonard, named the finals MVP, had 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs. San Antonio added this title to the ones the Spurs won in 1999, 2003, '05 and '07. They nearly had another last year, but couldn't hold off the Heat and lost in seven games.

San Antonio rebounded from an early 16-point deficit by outscoring the Heat 37-13 from the start of the second quarter to midway in the third.

The celebration the Heat canceled last season was on by the early second half Sunday, when the Spurs had finished digging their way out of an early 16-point hole and opened another huge lead.

LeBron James had 31 points and 10 rebounds for the Heat, who lost their spot atop the NBA to the team that had it so long.

The Spurs won four titles in nine years, but hadn't been back on top since 2007, making Foreigner's "Feels Like the First Time" and appropriate song choice after the final buzzer.

Advertisement

Tim Duncan and coach Gregg Popovich have been here for all of them, and it was the fourth for Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, who with Duncan are once again the reigning the Big Three in the NBA.

"I know he's got one more year on his contract, and he loves being with us, loves playing basketball," Parker said of Duncan. "Either way, whatever he decides, I'll support him. But if I have to choose, obviously, I would love him to keep going. I love playing with him."

"He feels a responsibility to his teammates," Popovich said of Duncan. "He enjoys them. He wants to hang around as long as he can while he's useful and while he's having an impact on the game."

Welcome to your discussion forum: Sign in with a Disqus account or your social networking account for your comment to be posted immediately, provided it meets the guidelines. (READ HOW.)
Comments made here are the sole responsibility of the person posting them; these comments do not reflect the opinion of The Sentinel and Enterprise. So keep it civil.